Friday, November 20, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5
Bright song renditions highlight
symphonic band performance
By Staci Finch
Reviewer
The band opened with “Com
mando March,” perfect for Texas
A&M with its military tradition. But
the evening bore no resemblence to
a night at boot camp. The fall per
formance of the A&M Symphonic
Band in Rudder Auditorium Thurs
day night was worthy of an evening
with the New York Philharmonic.
The 83-member band, directed by
Dr. Bill J. Dean, followed its first se
lection with “Colonial Song,” by
Percy Granger. The opening attack
by the brass was
right on cue,
Review there was not a
sour or out-of
tune note in the
whole piece.
The band finished out the first
half of its concert with “Overture to
‘Candide.’ ” The band had a little
trouble with tempo, and a few of the
sections took a couple of bars to get
their timing together, but the 500-
plus members of the audience had
no trouble recognizing the familar
strains of the song.
The highlight of the first half, if
not the whole concert, was “Concer
tino,” a flute solo performed by Me
lissa Underhill. The piece was de
scribed as “emphasizing the beauty
and technicality of the flute.” Un
derhill’s performance certainly lived
up to that description.
A flutist for 13 years, she seemed
a little nervous at first, but her runs
soon smoothed out and she treated
the audience to a fine performance.
In some places it was hard to be
lieve so many notes could fit in one
measure, as Underhill trilled and
glided her way up and down the mu
sical scale. But her mastery of the
flute was most evident in her rich
tone and clear intonation. Leigh
Baker provided excellent accompa
niment without overshadowing the
soloist.
Smokeout
includes
newborns
Babies born during the Great
American Smokeout received T-
shirts proclaiming “I’m a born
non-smoker” as puffers looked to
friends for moral support when
the nation’s smokers tried to keep
from lighting up for a day.
It was the first year that the
American Cancer Society had
counted infants among its partici
pants during the annual cam
paign, which also went after non
smoking tobacco users Thursday.
The Great American Smo
keout, meanwhile, worried some
restaurateurs that they wouldn’t
have enough room in their non
smoking sections.
In Corpus Christi, the popular
ity of a city smoking ordinance
approved last year has exceeded
the expectations of restaurateurs.
The ordinance calls for smoking
and non-smoking areas in restau
rants and office buildings.
The Cancer Society hopes at
least one in every five smokers
will participate in yesterday’s
smokeout, Karen Givens, Corpus
Christi smokeout chairman, said.
The society hopes tobacco-
chewers also will participate.
Photo by Robert If. Rizzo
Conductor Bill J. Dean directs the 83-member Texas A&M University Symphonic Band in Rudder
Auditorium Thursday night. The fall performance attracted more than 500 people.
The second half of the concert
was as delightful as the first. The
opening piece, “Salvation Is Cre
ated,” was a compilation of Russian
Orthodox hymns, and after listening
to the full, rich chords, one expected
to look around and see tall steeples
and stained glass.
“The Hounds Of Spring” fea
tured the woodwind section, and was
probably the most technically diffi
cult piece of the evening. But the
band performed admirably and
showed the audience that there is
more than one excellent band at
Texas A&M.
The band closed its concert with a
rendition of “America the Beauti
ful.” From the opening notes to the
narration on patriotism in America,
the symphonic band filled the audi
torium with the stirring notes of the
familiar anthem, and gauging from
the resounding applause, the effect
was not lost on the audience.
Overall, the performance was ex
cellent. There were only a few
tempo and timing problems, and the
acoustics of Rudder Auditorium al
lowed the audience to hear every in
strument in the band, from the high-
pitched piccolo and oboe to the low,
rich tones of the bassoon.
Band offers progressive rock
to A&M crowd on Work' tour
By Tom Reinarts
Reviewer
R.E.M., one of the leaders of pro
gressive rock in the 1980s, brought
its “Work” tour to G. Rollie White
Coliseum Thursday night to help
support its latest album “Docu
ment,” released a few months ago on
I.R.S. Records.
Opening for R.E.M. was another
I.R.S. band, the dB’s. This is the first
appearance for both groups in Col
lege Station.
R.E.M. has influenced several
bands across the United States since
it released its
n .■ debut El in
review 1981) ‘< chronic
wm—mmmmmmmm Town.” Since
then the band
has released six albums. All of them
have done well on the album-sales
charts, but “Document” is the first
with a chance to give the band a suc
cessful single with “The One I Lo
ve.”
The headline band started play
ing at about 9:10 p.m. and was wel
comed by a enthusiastic crowd as the
opening number “The Finest Work-
song” was played.
Several people were standing for
the full ninety minutes the band
played.
Throughout the performance the
band had films and slides showing
various scenes or pictures on a
screen behind drummer Bill Berry.
Lead singer Michael Stipe led the
group through songs that came
from all of the band’s albums.
The best songs of the evening
were “Exhuming McCarthy” and
“Driver 8.” The audience gave its
most favorable responses to “It’s the
End of the World as We Know It
(and I Feel Fine)” and “The One I
Love.”
Stipe was full of energy the entire
evening and he danced through
most of the songs. During “Begin
the Begin” a strobe light created an
interesting effect as it focused on
Stipe.
The other members of the band
were not as enthusiastic but are quite
talented and the members gave ex
cellent renditions of their recorded
songs.
The final song of the evening was
“So. Central Rain,” which featured
only guitarist Peter Buck and Stipe
rma:os
says
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Dub Summers
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I LITT THEATRES
except for a brief appearance by bas
sist Mike Mills.
The only real problem with the
performance was R.E.M.’s reluc
tance to establish any rapport with
the audience.
For one reason or another the
band did not find it necessary to try
to involve the audience more than it
was from the start, and the result
was a lack of spontaneity that made
one wonder if the band really
wanted to be there.
The dB’s started the concert
shortly after 8 p.m.
In September the group released
“The Sound of Music.” This is the
dB’s first record to be widely distrib
uted in this country, even though
the band has received praise from
rock critics and college music fans
since 1981.
Most of the songs the band played
in its 40-minute set were from that
album.
Those that showed up early
enough to see the opening band
were treated to some fine pop-rock
songs that included “Think Too
Hard” and “Never Say When.” Lead
singer Peter Holsapple has a fine,
versatile voice and Will Rigby is an
accomplished drummer.
Flowers in the Attic
(PG-13)
Sat&Sun 2:104:107:10
Post Oak Mall
Fatal Beauty (PG)
Sat & Sun 2:05 4:20 7:05 9:20
Post Oak Mall
Suspect
(R)
Sat & Sun 2:00 4:30 7:00 9:30
Post Oak Mall
Made In Heaven (PG)
Sat&Sun 2:10 4:20 7:10 9:15
Cinema III
The Running Man
Sat & Sun 2:00 4:00 7:00 9:10
Cinema III
Less Than Zero (PG)
Sat&Sun 2:10 4:20 7:10 9:05
Cinema III
Midnight Show Fri.
Rocky Horror Picture Show
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